LA - San Francisco - Portland - Seattle

"You only lose what you cling to."

November 26th

Today I fly home from Seattle to St Louis to spend THANKSgiving holiday (día de acción de gracias) with my lovely family. I'm feeling joyful for all the lovely friends that shared with me the last couple weeks on the west coast. 

November 24th

Today I write from Seattle, Washington. The past several days I have explored the city by bicycle, spent time with friends, shared delicious food and attended a breathwork workshop. Holotropic breathwork is the form of practice, and it was very interesting. Look it up! 

Thank you to my friends Molly, Ryan, Meggie, Elise, Rebecca, Brian, Jon and Megan. I appreciate so much your friendliness, conversations and generosity. 

Downtown Seattle behind Lake Union

November 20th

Today I am taking a road trip from Berkeley to Portland. There are helpful websites: zimride, Craigslist and ridejoy where people can offer a seat in their car in exchange for gas money. This way we both win. I get a ride to my destination, and the driver gets gas money on a trip they are already taking.

The past few days in the Bay Area of California have been really fun. Erin and Tom, my friends from college, invited me to stay at her home in Oakland. Thanks for your generosity! We rode bicycles around San Francisco and shared delicious food. The following nights I stayed with a childhood friend, Jason and his wife Xiaojing. Thank you two for being you! 

Downtown San Francisco view from Misson Delores Park. Erin runs up the hill after sliding down the slide. We had fun riding bicycles around the city.

November 17th, 5am

I sit at the home of my friend Michael in West Hollywood, ready to be picked up to start our journey north to the Bay Area of California. Through Craigslist, I found a carpool ride with a local and we will make the six hour trip together with one other passenger.

This last weekend in LA area has been a blast. I stayed the majority of time with my brother, Stephen, near Pomona. He is in school there, yet he had a long weekend off to enjoy golfing, yoga, great food and authentic conversations. Thanks for your generosity Stevo. We got to spend a fun Saturday night with our friend Michael, who also went to college with me at FSU. Michael and Stephanie let me stay the night at their place last night, and they always make it so comfortable. Thanks friends!

So now I'm traveling north. I'm excited to see more friends along the way in Oakland. 

Brother Stephen, Logan and myself pose for a picture in Hollywood CA after the Florida State football game

Hollywood!

Stephen and I went golfing, baked pumpkin pies, kept it real and had a great time together. Thanks for all your generosity Stevo!

November 13th

I fly to California today. It's the beginning of a two week trip from LA to Seattle to visit family and friends, and check out a potential job in Southern California. I'm excited to be in warm weather since St Louis winter is very cold. 

:))

Wild Animals

This post is dedicated to animal lovers. The following are pictures of wild animals I have seen in my travels. This blog will be updated when new wild animals are seen. Enjoy.

Juvenile Emperor Penguin at Pleneau Island, Antarctica

Gentoo Penguins at Port Lockroy, Antarctica

Humpback Whale in Antarctica

Leopard Seal at Melchior Islands, Antarctica

Orca near Lemaire Channel, Antarctica

Weddell Seal at Port Lockroy, Antarctica

Chinstrap Penguin at Deception Island, Antarctica

Guanacos. This animal is from the llama family and is found in Patagonia. They have a long history dating over 10,000 years.

Magellanic Penguin seen in Peninsula Valdes, Argentina

Southern Right Whale seen in Peninsula Valdes, Argentina

Elephant Seal seen in Peninsula Valdes, Argentina

Carancho or Southern Caracara found in Glacier National Park, Argentina

Grizzly bear seen in Glacier National Park,  Montana

Black bear seen in Glacier National Park, Montana

Manatee (vulnerable to extinction) seen in Wakulla Springs, Florida

West Coast of US (Oct 12th - Nov 3rd)

West Coast of US

After Montana and Glacier National Park, Dad and I drove west via Highway 6 through beautiful Alberta and British Columbia. The fall colors were unreal! We camped at Porteau Cove Park, which is located on the coast of Howe Sound on the 'Sea to Sky' highway. The next day we drove to Squamish and then drove south to the United States. After passing through the stingy US boarder patrol, which searched our car, we drove south to Seattle.

Seattle

What a great town! Ryan Hassett, a friend that I met while working with Southwestern from '05-'07, was so nice to open his home for the 5 days I stayed in Seattle. He and his two roommates, Elise and Meggie, were really great hosts. They made my stay much more comfortable and we cooked several delicious meals together. Megan Dochnahl, another friend from Southwestern, met us to cook a meal and go bowling too. Thanks for being you, Megan!

The open air Pike Street Market in downtown Seattle. The fish vendors are famous because they throw the fish that people buy.

Ryan Hassett, Maggie Conlin and myself at the Michael Jackson/Prince party. The three of us worked with Southwestern in 2005. What a great party!

The fall colors were unbelievable! This photo is taken by Elise, Ryan's roommate.

Ryan lent me his bicycle and I rode to Seward park and sent up my hammock in the sunshine. What a beautiful view of Lake Washington and downtown Seattle

Portland

After my great time in Seattle, I drove south to Portland. Eliav Cohen, another great friend I worked with at Southwestern, was so generous to let me stay at his new house for the weekend. Eliav took me to the Portland City Grill, which overlooks downtown. Thanks Eliav, I had a great time with you. The next day I met Brittany Zander, another Southwestern alum, and her boyfriend for a little bar crawl. There are hundreds of bars around downtown, all in walking distance. It was so great to see Brittany, for the last time I saw her was in 2006.

Pacific Coast Highway, Oregon

Hair of the Dog Brewery in Portland. 10% abv beer named Adam. Hoo wee.

Mendecino

I continued driving down the West Coast to Mendocino. I met a good friend, Claire Ray, in Mendocino and she showed me around the town. We hiked through the redwoods and had picnic under a fort made sometime before that sheltered us from the light rain.

My hammock set up in a redwood grove. Redwoods are the tallest trees on earth, sometimes towering over 300 feet.

Oakland/San Francisco

I rushed to San Francisco to see Cardinals play the Giants in baseball playoffs in Game 6. It was my first time visiting Steve, my brother, in Oakland and my first time in the bay area since 2008. I love this area! It feels like home. Once I arrived, I met Steve's girlfriend Jess, and she drove us to the train station which we rode to San Francisco to see if we could buy tickets to the playoff baseball game. We got criticized, in mostly good fun, while wearing our Cardinals jerseys. Unfortunately we lost both games and the Giants went on to win the World Series.
The rest of the time here I relaxed quite a bit. Steve is an awesome brother and a great friend. Thanks so much for letting me stay at your place for a week! Joe Dougherty, our cousin, visited for a couple days and we had a great time together.

Stephen's home in Oakland. His beautiful Volvo sits in front

Bay Bridge in the Bay Area

F16 jets fly over Giants baseball stadium at the beginning of game 6

Golden Gate Bridge

View of Alcatraz and downtown San Francisco

Our cousin Joe Dougherty met us to play golf. What a super fun day! The background has a view of Oakland and San Francisco.

Los Angeles

After a relaxing week in the bay area, I drove south to Los Angeles. The first night there, I spent the night in Topanga State Park. Since my allergies to dogs prevent me from staying in certain houses, I set up camp here.
The first day in LA I met a good friend from Florida State, Mike Barile. Mike drove me around Beverly Hills and Hollywood. What a great tour guide and friend! Thanks Mike.
The second day, I spent quality time with Jason Murphy, my dear friend from elementary school. I met his girlfriend, Xiaojing and we spent the day around Westwood, which is home to UCLA. That evening, we cooked dinner and Amanda Moskowitz, another friend from FSU, met us to enjoy. Thanks friends!

Jimmy, Jason and Xiaojing in front of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles

View of monstrous Los Angeles from the Getty Museum

Venice Beach street vendors and artists

I met four girls at a sports bar earlier in the day and they invited me to Shangri-La hotel at the penthouse for happy hour. They knew the bartenders, so we drank a couple beers and watched the sunset. Life's not bad, eh.

Nevada. Try a machine gun today!

Montana & Glacier Nat'l Park (Sept 27th - Oct 11th)

Big Sky Country.

Montana. Oh Beautiful Montana.

My dad joined me for 2 weeks to camp throughout Northern Montana in and around Glacier National Park. It is hard to take a bad picture there, so I hope you enjoy...

This adventure began with the Southwestern awards banquet, celebrating the successful summer our team from Colorado worked so hard for.





From left to right: Lindsay Jones, Dan Clymore-Greene, Tyler Williams, Myself, Casi Smigelsky, Lauren Bittinger, Jonay Jones, Devon Ferguson and Henry Albert Lee III. And the rest of our awesome team who couldn't make this awards Banquet: Kyla Young, Katie DiLorenzo,Maryellen Powers, and Adam Berrier

 To the best organization in Southwestern. I love you guys.



Pearl Jam! Thanks to Jamin Dailey and his father, I got to experience Pearl Jam for the first time live in Missoula. What a great show!!

Next, we drove into wilderness...



This picture is taken near Lake McDonald, the western beginning of the popular 'Going to the Sun Road'. The majority of the road was blocked off due to construction, so we found a campsite in the backcountry and set up camp. It rained all night and we woke to snow-capped mountains...!

Beautiful fall colors in Glacier National Park

Nice work with your tripod Daddio

 Beautiful view from the eastern end of Saint Mary Lake, on Going to the Sun Road

 Dad at the Sun Point viewing area

Dad and I decided to take a hike into the mountains...

 Neat reflection in the puddle at sunset

That night we slept at the KOA in Saint Mary. Chad Dailey's friend, Peter Brooke and his father Will let us stay in a warm cabin for free. What a blessing. Thank you so much for opening your campground to us.

 

Ahh! the next day was so great. Blue skies! The snow highlighted the unbelievable beauty of the park

 Grizzly!! There were two grizzlies hanging out near the road for us to watch for about 10 minutes. They were the first grizzly bears either of us had ever seen. What a day!

 Grizzly is eating some berries off the trees

 Dad is talking with a nature lover from the east coast. These guys are taking pictures of a black bear with their awesome cameras

 Unreal!

 This is another grizzly Dad spotted near the road. Good find Dad! We watched him by ourselves for a good while. Dad hooted at the bear to get this great photo.

 After our trip in Glacier Park, we met up with Jamin and Chad Dailey at Stanton Lake for a few days camping in the woods. What a great place! We hiked about 45 minutes through the dark to arrive at this location, where none of us had ever visited.

What a view from our camp spot!



 Chad was the master at catching fish for us. They tasted like...fish. Fresh fish. Delicious!

Jamin, myself and Chad the moment before they left on their hike back home. What great campers!



Dad's backpack. Look comfy, eh. He carried this to and from our campsite. What a haus.



This view is from the Prince of Wales hotel in Waterton, Canada

Another angle from the Prince of Wales hotel

Our first night in Waterton, which connects to Glacier Nat'l Park, it rained throughout the entire afternoon and evening. We found a campsite and began to cook some salmon and rice. While raining, Dad expressed how he'd wish to stay in a hotel. Hotels were over $100, so we decided to tough it out and sleep in the rain.

I decided to walk to one of the hotels to watch Monday night football and some playoff baseball. I ordered a couple drinks and relaxed while introducing myself to the locals. Coincidentally, I met a man named Thom McCann who is very friendly. He asked me where I planned to stay, and I answered that we had a camp spot. I mentioned my Dad had a bad back and he could tell I wasn't overly enthusiastic about our situation. So he offered the two of us a free room with 2 queen beds. Wow!! What an awesome gift. My dad was super stoked. We continued having fun at the hotel bar because they were having a send off party for one of the employees. Thom was very generous to pick up our entire tab as well. Thanks so much Thom, this generous act will come back to you sometime soon.

Montana! What a great state. And a great chapter in this story...

Namaste